Terrible Things
by Spacer-boy
Summary: Jack thinks his son is finally ready to know what really happened to his mother and how life can do some terrible things. (Jelsa, Modern AU!, One shot!) TW: Sad themes


**_Jack_**

"Caleb, come sit down," I say as my twelve year old son walked past me. Immediately he stopped in his tracks, taking a seat on the couch.

"Am I in trouble?"

"No." I'm not sure how to start the conversation or if he's really old enough for this conversation. But it's something he needs to hear before he even starts to date.

Don't get me wrong, he's still young but he deserves to know.

"It's about your mother," I explain. Immediately the blonde headed boy's face falls to a frown.

Caleb never really got to know her since she passed away when he while he was a baby.

"What about her, dad?"

"I think it's time I tell you about her," Fiddling with my hands I look away from my son. "Let me start with how I met your mother."

 _-Flashback-_

 _It's impossible, how could he really do this to me. I just started the job a month ago!_

 _Groaning I read over the book covers trying to find the so desired book._

 _"Can I help you?" A feminine voice asked, immediately I look over my shoulder to see a blonde woman with the brightest looking ocean blue eyes. Popping even more with her long black lashes and perfectly pink lip gloss._

 _She gave a soft smile and my head flew._

 _"Sir?"_

 _"Uh...yeah, sorry. I'm looking for a book my boss needs." Her brows pressed forwards before smoothing her black skirt out and walking towards me._

 _"What's it called?"_

 _"Not a clue."_

 _"Not a clue? It's that the title or you just don't know? You surely won't find it if that's the case" She asked clearly confused._

 _Good going idiot, now she thinks your an idiot. Slapping my forehead I feel my face heat up. Embarrassment taking over._

 _Great, now I can't even care to look up._

 _"It's a foreign book." I weakly hold out the paper in which had the title and author of the book. She read it in silence before giggling slightly._

 _"You do know you are in the romance section right? This type of book would be in the foreign section."_

 _I groan at myself. Dammit, why didn't I think about that?_

 _"Unless you wanted to read Twilight."_

 _"No!" I sprang my head up making her giggle again. Once again, at my expense. "No, definitely not."_

 _"Not into sparkling vampires?"_

 _My face reddened more and I cleared my throat._

 _Why is she doing this to me?_

 _"Not exactly my type."_

 _"Ooo, please do tell. What is your type?"_

 _"What do you think it is?" I ask making her smirk. Blue eyes ranked me up and down before they met my own._

 _"Is it blondes with blue eyes?" My eyes widened and she laughed. Arms clutching her stomach as she bent slightly. Immediately someone cleared their throat making the blonde stop and look over her shoulder. The other woman gave the blonde a non threatening glare before walking off, pushing her book cart long with her. "I'm Elsa. What's your name?"_

 _"Jack."_

 _"Well Jack, I have to get back at it but I do hope you keep in touch."_

 _I couldn't speak, what could I say to her? I just watched starstruck as she made her way down the book aisle, turning her head over her look to smile at me before she disappeared around the corner._

- _End of flashback_ -

"So you met mom at a library?" Caleb asked me whilst he played with the zipper on his hoodie.

I chuckled lightly, "Yeah, she used to work there and I would come in just to see her. One day I asked her out."

"Gross."

"You'll think otherwise another day."

"Dad why are you telling me all of this?" He questioned making me frown slightly in my seat.

Is he really ready to know? Of course he does, Elsa was his mother. It must kill him more that it does me.

"Because son, life can do terrible things."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you want to know about the day your mother told me she was pregnant with you? It was the same day I proposed."

Caleb just stared at at me, completely interested in know anything I could tell him about his mother.

- _Flashback_ -

 _It's late and I'm so tired. I just can't wait to get home to Elsa and just relax._

 _Maybe she'll tell me a story, she loves doing that. Or maybe we'll watch a movie. But Ethier way, tonight is the night._

 _I can't stand another day of being her boyfriend, with all the love I have for this woman. I can't, it has to be more and I hope she feels the same way._

 _By time I walked into the house that we had bought together, Elsa was laying on the couch watching some movie._

 _As I set down my work bag on the floor, her gaze left the tv to stare at me. A smile immediately filling her face._

 _"Home already?" She asked sitting up. She ran her hands through thick strands of blonde hair._

 _"Oh, I got you something!" I reached into my pocket pulling out a bag of mM's making her giggle. Tossing the bag, she caught it._

 _"Why thank you, my good man." I watch at her as she tore the bag open, pouring a few into her mouth. I couldn't hide the smile on my face._

 _Sitting down next to her, I grasp her free hand._

 _It's now or ever and knowing myself it has to be now._

 _"Elsa?"_

 _"Jack?" She said as I spoke. Immediately we both went quiet. She snickered, "Can I tell you something?"_

 _"What is it?"_

 _She fiddled with her necklace for a while before grinning like an idiot._

 _"Well life can do some wonderful things..." I tilt my head in confusion slightly._

 _What is she talking about?_

 _"What?"_

 _"I'm pregnant...I found out two days ago but I wasn't sure how to tell you." My heart raced as I stared at the love of my life._

 _"Seriously?"_

 _"Seriously..."_

 _A large smile plastered onto my face, "I'm gonna be a dad!" Pulling Elsa towards me I hug her tightly. I held her there for what felt like only seconds before she pulled away with a smile._

 _"So when are you going to propose?"_

 _"W-what?"_

 _"Oh come on, Jack. Stop playing dumb, I saw the ring." I stare at her in disbelief._

 _How the hell did she find it? I kept it in my car most of the time. That and I bought the ring on my credit card and they kept the receipt._

 _"How?"_

 _The blond just giggled lightly, "When I was doing the laundry. It feel out of your pants pocket and I didn't put it together until I opened the box."_

 _How stupid of me..._

 _Immediate disappointment coursed through me, I wanted to propose to her and have it be romantic. Not tv romantic but our own kind._

 _"I'm sorry...I wouldn't have opened it but I didn't realize it until it was too late," I nod. It wasn't her fault, if anything it was mine. I should have kept in the car._

 _"I wanted it to be special...and a surprise."_

 _"I don't like surprises," She whined crawling onto my lap, sitting on it and wrapping her arms around my neck._

 _I stare stare into her eyes, heat collecting on my face as I did. It always does._

 _She's beautiful, always going to be in my eyes. Both inside and out._

 _"You need to learn to accept them."_

 _She pouted slightly, sticking out her tongue. Thankfully deciding not to blow a raspberry._

 _I reach my hand up to stroke her cheek, "You're beautiful, you know that?"_

 _"Of course. You tell me everyday."_

 _"Good," I lean it, pecking her lips. She huffed her breath as I pulled away. I just snickered at the action, reaching into my sweater pocket to grab the box. "Not exactly how I planed it."_

 _I opened the box to reveal the ring she of course had already seen. Her cheeks heating up and a smile guiding itself onto her face._

 _"It's so beautiful, Jack."_

 _"Will you marry me, Elsa?" I ask and she smile, tears glossing her eyes._

 _"You already know I will." She leaned in to capture a timed filled kiss but I broke it._

 _"The ring."_

 _"Later," She whined obviously upset with the interruption._

 _"Can you not fight me on this one," I whine back. She giggled._

 _"Fine."_

 _Carefully, I pull the ring out of the box. Guiding it onto her finger, it matching perfectly onto the digit._

 _"How did you know my size?"_

 _"I waited until you were asleep then tied a string around your finger."_

 _"That's not creepy," She laughed before resting her head onto my shoulder, arms moving down to wrap around my back. "I love you."_

 _"I love you too." Wrapping my arm around her waist, I allow myself to enjoy the moment with my fiancee._

- _End of flashback_ -

"Did you and mom ever get married."

"Yeah, she managed to get it all done and planned quickly."

My heart ached. If only I knew what was to come, I would have held her tighter, kissed her more, and listened to her stories more.

Not that I didn't do enough of those things, I just wished I had more time. More time to be with her.

"I still don't get why you say life does terrible things, dad. You guys got married and mom had me. Then she got into that crash."

"Caleb...your mom was never in a crash..."

"But you said-"

"You were so young. It was easier to say that," I softly said.

I feel terrible for lying to him about the reason behind his mother's death. But it wasn't something he would have understood at five.

"Then what happened?"

I sighed, closing my eyes.

- _Flashback_ -

 _"Elsa, I got that- hey what's wrong?" I asked. My wife curled into herself while tears leaked from her eyes. "Elsa, honey?"_

 _She blinked at me, tears drenching her face._

 _"Jack..."_

 _I grasp her hand, kissing it gently._

 _"I'm here, what's wrong." I have never seen her so upset. Not even when she was pregnant._

 _"Life can do terrible things," She whimpered._

 _What is she even talking about? I help her sit up, running my hand through her hair in hopes to calm her. Instead, while I ran through the thick locks, a clump of blond hair filled my palm._

 _Pulling my hand away, looking at my hand before looking at her._

 _"Elsa?" Worry started to pump through my vains. My eyes shifting from the hair to her._

 _"It's back."_

 _"What's back? Talk to me, baby. You're scaring me."_

 _She sobbed violently making me dropped the loose locks onto the couch. I held her tightly, running my hand through her hair, shaking any pieces that fell out away._

 _"I had cancer when I little...they said it wasn't going to come back." My hand froze. "But it's back and it's happening so fast."_

 _"We can fix this, Elsa. We'll get you to the doctors, start treatment."_

 _I don't want to loose her, we've been married for only a few months and Caleb is still so very young._

 _"I already went today, Jack. It's too far for treatment to work as well..."_

 _"H-how?" Tears creeped out of my eyes. I stared at the love of my life, I couldn't loose her. I can't._

 _"It came back and spread like wildfire."_

 _"Please start the treatment."_

 _"They gave me a year life span...if treatment doesn't work it cuts the time in half. My body can't fight it like when I was little, Jack. It's gone too far."_

 _"I can't loose you," I hold her tighter, crying like a baby. Pleading to the gods to not take her. To not take my wife, my life, my child's mother. "Caleb...he can't loose you."_

 _"Please don't make this hard on me, Jack. I don't want the treatment to half my life span if it doesn't work," She sniffled, I squeeze my eyes tight as I felt her rest her head on my shoulder. "I want to spend the rest of my time with you and Caleb. I've had a good run. I'm married, I have a son, and I am happy."_

 _How could she say such things? How could she not care that she's going to die? To not live until old age and spend the rest of her life with me._

 _"Please Jack."_

 _"Okay...okay. If that's what you want, we'll do it." She nodded, not lifting her head. Together we just cried._

 _Both knowing in a years time, we wouldn't be able to hold each other anymore._

- _End of flashback_ -

"She lived past the year...but not long."

"Does cancer hurt?" Caleb asked, his voice quiet and soft

"It depends..." I wipe my eyes. I wonder how much pain she really was in, she rarely vocalized any pain to me. She didn't want to alarm me, I suppose.

"Life can do terrible things, Caleb but I pray that you'll never have to go through that. That the gods in the sky show love to you differently." He nodded dropping his head down. "I love you, son. Your mother does too even if she's not here anymore."

"I love you too, dad."

"Now let's go visit your mother."

 **(A/N)**

 ** _Honestly this was inspired by the song, Terrible Things by Mayday Parade. If you haven't heard it, you should give it a listen. It's lovely._**

 ** _Anyhow, I need to learn how to write more happy stories/one shots because the amount of sad filled one I have are insane._**

 ** _I'm still working on my other projects, just stuck in writers block currently._**

 ** _Also, haven't been the best of health (which I won't go into because its a lot) so I won't be doing a lot of editing so excuse any grammar mistakes._**


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